Worst Case Scenario
by fire.elve
Summary: when genma gets ill, not even shizune is able to heal him. so asuma and kurenai are on the way to get godaime from suna, she is the only one who could rescue genma! genmaXshizune genshi, asumaXkurenai asukure, ankoXkakashi ankashi
1. Chapter 1

A/N: hey! First of all, i'm really sorry that it took me so long to write, and that started another story! But this is another challenge ff, for my sister , and i really hope she likes it! And i won't start another long fanfiction before i've finished this one!! (maybe just littlöe one shots **g**) I do not own Naruto, but i'm sure you know that... and i hope you like it!

**Worst Case Scenario**

Chapter 1

The sun had long ago risen over the village Konohagakure. It was afternoon, in late summer, and two jounin were walking next to each other on a street that was usually crowded but today only occupied by a few other ninja and academy students. Both shinobi walked in silence as they were used to, but something was different. They had been strolling the village for quite a while now, but it had been unnaturally quiet.

"Something is different, isn't it?" Kurenai suddenly broke the silence. Asuma had realized it, too; but he knew the reason for the quiet and tranquillity that lay over the village, so he began to smirk. When Kurenai turned to face him he answered.

"Anko"

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Anko walked along the floor, a grin covering her face. She looked through the window to her left, which let outside to the garden that lay in the centre of the big house. Her right hand was in her belt pouch, her fingers playing with some senbon inside.

The garden was completely green, grass and small plants growing everywhere, as well as various trees and a paved lane wound its way from one exit to the other. A wooden bench, currently unoccupied, sat under a cherry-blossom tree.

Anko's grin widened when she neared the door to the garden. She stopped in front of the glass door, opened it slowly and sneaked on inside, her eyes never leaving the top of a tree that stood in the middle. She took another step with care, intend on not making a sound and hid herself behind a tree.

In that moment Anko felt great, she wasn't exactly on free time, but it wasn't a mission either. Tsunade had been invited by the Kazekage Gaara to the chuunin exam's final fights, and there they were, in Suna. Since the Godaime of Konoha had taken several jounin and chuunin with her, to represent the village. So Anko, Izumo, Kotetsu, Kakashi, Iwashi and Raidou had been chosen to accompany their village's leader. The shinobi were accommodated in this wonderful old house in the centre of Sunagakure where they could sleep till next day, when the exam was scheduled to start.

Which in Anko's opinion meant, that they could do something on their own for a couple of hours.

Anko was confident to be securely hidden behind the tree, took out the senbon she had played with earlier and jumped out of her hiding place, throwing the weapons toward the one sitting in the top of the tree...

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**Knock Knock**

Just a few seconds after he had heard the knock Genma opened the door to his apartment, and smiling he welcomed Shizune inside. Genma looked like always, toothpick in the corner of his mouth, his telltale smirk on his face, merely missing his usual ninja jacket. But when Shizune looked with more care, she didn't miss the slight paleness of his face. It of course worried her, especially since she was a medi-nin, but all in all he didn't seem to be ill, and he would not tell her if anything was wrong anyway.

Shizune herself was grateful. Tsunade had travelled to Suna, and this time she hadn't taken her along. Of course, Shizune liked to be around Tsunade, but right now she was happy to be here in Konoha so she could visit friends, and spend time with Genma.

The Kunoichi had brought some cookies and a cake along, it seemed that it was going to be a nice day.

"Shizune!" Genma greeted her when she walked inside, and he pointed at the couch. "Let's sit down" While Shizune sat down and placed the cake on the table, Genma walked over into the kitchen to get some cups and tea.

Shizune looked around. She sat in the living room, it was right next to the small entrance room by the door. The couch and table stood in the corner by two big windows; on the walls were pictures of their team and other ninja of the village. Some plants stood in the corner, and there were two other doors, leading to the kitchen and the bedroom. Just in that moment Genma re-entered the living room, put the tea on the table and sat down opposite of Shizune.

"Thanks" he said smiling when he put a piece of the cake on each of their plates, Shizune just smiled back. But when they wanted to start eating, Genma had the fork already half way to his mouth, there was another knock on the door.

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"Where is Anko?"

"At least not in Konoha, otherwise we would have seen her... or heard her." Kurenai had to grin when Asuma added the last words. But he was right, Anko was most securely not in Konoha, but where else? Had Tsunade mentioned something about a mission?

"Talking about Anko, where is Kakashi? I haven't seen him either."

"Well, we could ask Genma, his place is close by, and Shizune would have told him, of any mission concerning the two of them."

Mutely they changed direction and walked over to Genma's apartment. It wasn't long before they arrived, Kurenai stepped up to the door, with Asuma right behind her and knocked on the door.

A few moments later Genma opened the door. His usual, unrevealing expression on his face, even though his smirk seemed to be missing. Even though he would not show it openly, least of all to the two jounin who just paid him this surprise-visit, but he was disappointed. Not about who was at his door, they were very good friends, but that they interrupted his free day with Shizune.

"Yes?" he asked, sounding more annoyed than he actually meant to, but his head hurt harder by the minute, and so he looked a bit exasperated, too. That had the two visitors wondering about his unusual behaviour for some seconds, but Asuma hadn't forgotten, why they had come here.

"Hey! Are you feeling alright?" But just the look on Genma's face told him, that he didn't have the wish to talk about that particular topic, so he went on. "Do you know anything about Anko? Or Kakashi?"

Just in that moment, Shizune came from behind the door, stopped next to Genma, and smiling she answered before her teammate could even start speaking.

"Hey! You're looking for them? Tsunade-sama told me that she took them both with her to Suna."

"Shizune!" Kurenai was shocked to see the small medi-nin here, but quickly recovered and tried to get back to the topic they had come here to discuss: "... so, Suna?" Then Genma opened the door a little more and waved them inside.

"You want to come in?" is head now burnt like hell, and standing here and talking wouldn't make it any better. Asuma and Kurenai nodded before entering the living room with Shizune and sitting down beside her on the couch. Genma followed them, but went into the kitchen to get two more cups and dishes. When a sudden wave of dizziness overtook him and his vision turned black. He desperately held onto the cupboard to steady himself and waited some seconds until it passed. He briefly wondered what was wrong with him, the jounin hadn't done anything special in recent times, he hadn't had a cold or something of the like, but still, he was definitely not alright, right now. But he would get over it, he always did and he had to. Resolutely ignoring the shadows that still clung to the corner of his vision Genma took the dishes and took them back into the living room. When he reached the table, he glanced in Shizune's direction, not willing to meet her eyes. She looked at him as if he would look like a ghost, then again maybe he did, he thought. Still he tried to smile, for her sake more than anything else but right then, when he put down the things he had brought, his vision turned black and all sound seemed to evade him and his body wouldn't move anymore. He felt altogether numb, but that was the last thing he felt, before drifting into unconsciousness, falling backwards onto his floor...

TBC

A/N: I know a bad cliffie... but i would write the next chapter faster, if i would get some reviews! **Hinthint** ok, thanks for my beta!! (love ya!) and for my reviewers and readers!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

'What could it be?' Shizune rummaged through her mind, through all the knowledge that she had accumulated in her years as a medi-nin. She sat uneasily on a small chair, next to the bed where Genma still lay unconscious. Asuma had carried the unconcious ninja to the bedroom and Shizune had put a pillow beneath his head and another beneath his feet to stabilize his circulation. But all her healing attempts had been in vain, she couldn't even figure out what was actually wrong with him.

Asuma and Kurenai had left for the hokage's office to retrieve books concerning various illnesses and their detailed descriptions. But the kunoichi wasn't sure if even that would help.

At the moment she wasn't sure of anything. Shizune had the apprehension that it wasn't a regular illness but rather a change to his chacracircles. And that would mean, that there was only one person able to heal it, and Tsunade was a long way from here.

Suddenly Genma gave a quiet noise. Immediatly Shizune turned her attention back to her teammates face, as he slowly opened his eyes.

Genma took some time to focus his eyes on the ceiling of his bedroom and to figure out where he was and what had happened. He then turned his attention to Shizune and smiled weakly at her. His teammate looked troubled and he hoped that if he could just prove to her that he wasn't feeling too bad, maybe he could lift her spirits. And maybe he would get his senbon back that lay on a small dish next to the chair, as that would certainly lift his spirits and calm his nerves. She smiled back, but it looked forced.

"How are you feeling?", Shizune asked softly.

"Ah, great" he said grinning, though his voice sounded a little weak, "never felt better."

Shizune smiled back, she knew he was lying but to hear him talk like that relieved her nonetheless.

Genma knew whatever he suffered from it couldn't be something ordinary, his own pain and the one reflected in Shizune's eyes, told him different. But he knew that all he could do now was wait, so he closed his eyes again. If anyone would be able to figure out what was wrong and change it, it was his teammate, he was sure of that.

Right in that moment there was a knock at the door, and not waiting for an answer Asuma and Kurenai entered and crossed the floor heading straight for the bedroom. Each of them carried about three heavy books and put them in front of Shizune.

"Thanks." The small kunoichi smiled weakly, vacating her chair to kneel in front of the old books.

Asuma and Shizune sat down opposite of Shizune on the floor, leaning against the wall. Genma didn't have many chairs, just the one Shizune had just left and those in the living room, but the two ninjas didn't feel like fetching them now. They lay back and let a little of the tenseness that came from their friend's sudden collapse and his current condition leave their muscles.

"How is he now?" Kurenai asked, an anxious tone evident in her voice.

"Oh, better... I think." Shizune added quietly. She scanned the titles of the books, then grabbed the one that seamed right to her and opened it. For some minutes the medi-nin browsed through the book, reading the headlines every here and there until she found something. Her right forefinger moved quickly down the lines of neat writing, and her expression darkened with every line she read. Asuma and Kurenai both looked nervously over at her and tried to read some catchwords on the page or the expression on her face. But it didn't work.

Still looking into the book she reached next to her and grabbed Genma's cold hand with her own.

"Genma?" she finally asked softly looking up at him. "Genma? Do your movements hurt? Or is there another pain?" The kunoichi tied his eyes with her gaze, and it told Genma, that he would better not lie, nor keep any detail secret. Looking at the ceiling he nodded silently, then quickly looked back at her.

"It isn't worse than normal, like muscle ache or something." He mumbled, trying to underact his pain. But nevertheless Shizune bit her lower lip and closed her eyes for a brief moment, this was bad.

"Yeah" she almost whispered. The medi-nin threw a significant look over to Asuma and Kurenai then stood up and crossed over to the door, the two jounin followed her.

"What's with him?"

"Well, I can't be certain, but everything refers to 'Nebula Formidinis'. It attacks the chacracircle-system." They now stood in the next room, the door closed firmly behind them conversing quiet enough so that Genma would not hear them.

"But the problem is, it's more than difficult to heal, if actually possible. Tsunade-sama would be the only one I know, who could heal him." The kunoichi looked pleadingly and close to tears at her friends. "Please, you must get her here! And fast!"

That they would do all that's possible to get the fifth hokage was clear, but there was still something left they needed to know.

"What would happen otherwise?" Kurenai had a very bad feeling, and actually she wasn't eager to know it, but the jounin wanted to be certain about the seriousness of the situation, and she wanted to hear it, not only read it on her friend's face.

The sorrow in the chocolate-coloured eyes of Genma's teammate deepened with every second that passed by. She met the verge of tears when she answered, voicing her fears made them all too real, but being a ninja she had to keep control of her feelings.

"If he won't get help within five days, he will die."

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A devilish smile covered her face, the smile that promised doom and pain to whoever was chosen to be her next victim, as Anko threw the senbon. But in that very second a branch cracked on the oppsosite side of the garden close to the exit. Upon hearing that sound and being the elite-ninja he was, Kakashi –still sitting in the tree- looked up from his favourite book and scanned the area around him, in the fraction of a second, for any sign of danger and so caught the senbon mere centimeters before his face. Laying back against the treetrunk he looked down to see Anko, and grinned.

"Bored?"

Anko faked a smile and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, before she threw a scathing look over to the place where her plan had been foiled, in this case Iwashi, who had entered the garden in an attempt to enjoy the day. But when he noted Anko and furthermore the expression on her face he did the best thing he could do, the only one that might let him survive the day: he first raised his hand in greeting accompanied by an innocent smile, and in less than a second he was gone, disappeared into the house and probably trying to figure out which would be the safest place in suna.

Anko watched him leave, at least partfully satisfied that one look from her still had the ability to let other ninjas go diving for cover. Then she looked back at Kakashi, but he was already reading again, chuckling every here and there, but still very aware of the presence of the kunoichi, who was still standing at the base of the tree, going through her options. In Anko rose another idea.

It wasn't that Anko was bored, well, yes she was bored, but she was always looking for simple fun, mostly at others' expenses. And even though she had heard of his book, she couldn't understand how he was able to read it over and over again.

So the specialjounin headed towards the tree. There was no use for stealth, he knew of her presence, so when she stood directly beneath the tree, Anko collected chacra in the soles of her feet and began climbing the tree, towards the place Kakashi still occupied. The copy-ninja looked past his book at Anko, narrowed his one visible eye at her, in the attempt to look through Anko and read her intentions. But she just grinned at him, a genuine smile this time, if anytghing even more frightening then the fake smiles she was so proud of. She knew he would never let her read the book willingly, she had tried several times in the past to ask him for it but with no success. So now was the time to change that and put her plan into action.

TBC

A/N: First of all, i will thank my readers(and especially reviewers) and my beta-reader!! THANK YOU so much!! And it would be great to get some reviews for this chapter! (hint: the small button left ) **g** next chapter won't take long... i think


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

From one second to the next Anko jumped up to the branch above them, swung her legs around it to hold herself and let her upper body fall down, so that now she hang upside down from the branch and her face was right next to Kakashi's, looking into the book. Kakashi, startled by the sudenness of her move, closed the book immediately, but it was too late. It had been time enough for Anko to read some lines, significant lines. The kunoichi grinned evilly and turned her head to face Kakashi, while he watched her angily.

It was then that they both realized just how close their faces were. Anko's grin faded as she looked into the depth of Kakashi's one visible eye, the other one covered by his foreheadprotector, and he gazed back, watched her brown eyes. Slowly, still entranced by the moment Anko raised her right arm to Kakashi's face, and reached for his mask. The silver haired jounin didn't move, he wasn't sure, but he had a feeling he knew what she was going to do. And he didn't stop her, Anko touched the fabric of his mask and was about to pull it down when in that very second the branch that supported her weight gave a crack and immediatly broke into two.

Anko, shocked by the sudden loss of balance, was falling head first towards the ground and would therefore be completely unable to land on her feet. She passed the branch Kakashi sat on, but it was mere inches out of her reach when she tried to grab it and turn herself around with its help. Kakashi reacted on reflex, grabbed her hands with both of his, and broke her fall long enough that she swung around, her feet now towards the ground and she landed in a crouch. Anko was about to look back up at Kakashi and thank him for his help, when she noticed a book right next to her foot. Bold letters proclaimed the title: 'Icha Icha Paradise'. Kakashi must have lost it while helping her. Almost faster than the eye could follow she picked it up and put it into her pocket, unnoticed by Kakashi, who was just jumping down from the tree, joining her on the ground. He walked over and stopped in front of her.

"You' OK?' he asked, but without even waiting for the answer, he stepped closer, very close actually, and put his right arm over her shoulder. "Don't do that again", he whispered softly into her ear, then stepped back and disappeared into the house. First Anko was too shocked by his strange behaviour to move, but when, out of habit, she put her hands into her pockets she realized that the book, she had just put there had vanished.

'So that's why he acted this way...' she thought and shot a death-glare towards the door he had just walked through.

"Kakashi!!" the special-jounin screamed, but inwardly she laughed hysterically, the game was on, she would hunt him down and she would get that book! Gods, she hated boredom.

Shizune closed the door behind Asuma and Kurenai and sighed. Leaning back against the closed door she took the chance to shut her eyes and let her emotions wash threw her. She was filled with sorrow, Asuma and Kurenai would do all that was possible possible and hurry, but five days? Would that be enough? Suna was a long way off.

But there was no time to worry for her, she decided, resolutely pushing her fears and emotions aside. She had to care for Genma until Tsunade would arrive, even though she knew it wouldn't do much good, she'd still do it, if only for her own sanity and calm. Desperately trying to stay positive and focused she took a calming breath, then went back to Genma again and sat down on the chair next to his bed. Her teammate's eyes were still closed, seemingly peacefully asleep. But when she moved closer to him, she could see his face more clearly. It was half covered by the blanket, but he seemed to sweat, small droplets made their way down his face, which was flushed by heat. It seemed Genma was dreaming, and it did not appear to be a good dream. He started to toss fitfully, throwing his head around over and over.

Shizune wasn't quite sure whether she should wake him, because he was apparently having a nightmare, or let him sleep, since he needed as much rest as he could possibly get. The illness was already draining his strength and he had to sleep as much as possible. The medi-nin decided against waking him, but observed his sleeping form closely.

Suddenly he opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he opened it again and began whispering. Shizune leaned in closer to listen to him.

"Shi...ne" (shine, jap.: Die!) Her eyes widened. What could his dream be about? She should wake him now, as it seemed to only get worse. Carefully she moved her right hand to his face, touching it gently, she realized how hot it felt, and called out his name.

Genma's eyes shot open, his breath coming in fast, unregular gasps. He looked around frantically before focusing on the owner of the hand that had awoken him, he was confusedat first, but upon recognizing Shizune, immediatly tried a small smile for her sake.

"You' OK?" Shizune asked, worry clearly lacing her words and took his hand in her own. Even his hands felt too warm and to confirm her suspicion she leaned closer to him, put one of her small hands on his forehead and closed her eyes. Some seconds later she leaned back again. His forehead was definitely warmer than hers, which also meant warmer than normal.

"You're too hot." She stated seriously. ()

Adding to the barely noticable blush on Genma's face, which was well hidden by his flushed face was now a teasing smirk. Shizune glanzed at his face for a second, but when she saw his grin she turned to him completely, puzzled. Just then she realized what she had said and blushed deeply, trying to find a way out of this. Luckily just in that moment Genma's stomach gave a growl. She took that as the opportunity it was.

"I'll make you something to eat. Stay in bed!" she hastically ordered and left the room with amazing speed. Genma smiled after her, but his smile soon faded after she left the room. He thought how easily Shizune brought a smile to his face and how much he hated it to see her worry most of all for him. But he also thought about the illness that caused havoc in his system, he could feel the pain rise in his head and could feel it slowly spreading to his lungs. Desperately trying to clear his thoughts of those particular feelings he looked outside, clouds had appeared in the sky drowning the light of the formerly so cheerful sun.

Suddenly the door opened and Shizune entered the room. With the left hand she balanced a tray, while she closed the door carefully behind her with her right. She turned then and put the tray next to her comrade, then sat back on the chair. Genma smiled warmly.

"Thank You"

Asuma and Kurenai had dashed through the lands of Konoha for quite a while already. The ground was unregular, nerved with roots as it sped by beneath them. Not often had they hurried so much, now the exhaustion was hunting them. Sweat ran down their faces.

Usually it took 4 or 5 days to Sunagakure, they had to make it in less than three.

All was quiet around them, they met noone and the weather seemed to support them, it was windy, wind from east to west, blowing towards suna, fresh but not cold. And so they dashed along surrounded by the endless greens of konoha's woods.

But the forest wasn't endless, even if they appeared to be, and soon the jounin arrived at a lighter part of he forest, where tree's were just few and far between, but instead of being better iluminated by the sun's light, it got darker, grey clouds veiling the last rays of the setting sun. Not able to see every detail in this gloomy surrounding, Asuma didn't jump quite far enough to get to the next branch, butstill close enough, that he could grab for it and with its aid he jumped down softly to the ground. Kurenai encountered the same problems, when she reached for a branchand clung to it, but in that second it made an uncomfortable sound, and it looked indeed thinner than she had suspected. Immediatly she reacted and let go of it, falling towards the ground and bracing herself for the impact. All would have gone well, but Kurenai hadn't had enough time to look where she'd land and when she landed, bracing herself with both hands, she caught her right foot in a burrow, and twisted it awkwardly. Kurenai closed her eyes in pain for a brief moment, but ran along immediatly, catching up to her partner, though every step she took now send tiny lances of pain up her leg and stabbed ferociously at her ankle.

TBC

A/N: hey there! Ok, I'm back, here is the next chapter and I hope you liked it! The again I would like to thank my beta-reader and readers, and of course reviewers(I love you guys **g**), and I would love to get some reviews **g**


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